GREENSBORO, N.C.- The Randolph women's basketball team played Guilford on the road on Saturday evening. The WildCats found themselves in an early hole that they ultimately could not recover from as the Quakers won by the score of 85-60.
Guilford jumped on the WildCats in the first quarter as they scored 12 straight points and led 18-3 at the end of the period. Randolph reached double dights with 3:36 remaining in the second quarter and the score stood at 39-16 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Randoph trailed by 28 points, 44-16, less than a minute into the period. A 17-3 WIldCat run shrunk the deficit to 15 points, 48-33, with six minutes left in the quarter. Guilford would go on to lead 56-36 heading into the final quarter of play.
The Quakers led 61-38 with 8:36 left in the fourth quarter. Randolph again mounted a comeback as it went on an 11-4 run to close the gap to 14 points, with 4:43 remaining. It was still a 14-point deficit with 2:28 left to play but the WildCats could not get any closer as the Quakers pulled away for the victory.
"Tough day at the office," said head coach Steve Lanpher after the game. "Guilford's defensive pressure really took us out of sync and turned us over way too much. 32 turnovers are never a recipe for success."
Randolph shot 13-of-50 overall (26%) and 5-of-16 (31.3%) from behind the three-point arc. From the charity stripe, the WildCats went 29-of-36 (80.6%). Guilford was 30-of-76 from the field (39.5%) and was 5-of-21 (23.8%) in three-point attempts. The Quakers were 20-of-24 (83.3%) from the free throw line. Guilford controlled the glass 48-40.
Kylie Stark (Lynchburg, Va./Brookville) led the WildCats with 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting and added four steals and three rebounds. Jessica Jennings (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Caiyah Smith (Manassas, Va./Virginia Academy) scored 10 points. Teniyah Crenshaw-Patterson (Newport News, Va./Heritage) had a team-high eight rebounds to go with four points.
"I thought we did a nice job in the second half cutting the deficit down to 14/15 but we just ran out of gas," noted Lanpher. "We can learn from this and make some necessary changes. Our character and fortitude is being challenged; how we respond to this disappointing loss will define us positively or negatively moving forward."
Randolph returns home to host Averett on Wednesday night. Game time will be at 7:30 pm.
